Warning over fake WhatsApp emails

Diane King

Messages claiming to be from WhatsApp are being sent by fraudsters intending to steal banking and personal information.

Action Fraud - the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime - has received reports of emails and texts being received by long-term users of the messaging app, claiming that their subscriptions have expired.

However, WhatsApp stopped charging users in 2016 following the company’s acquisition by Facebook, who took over after buying it for £11.4bn in 2016.

The claim your “subscription will be ending soon” and ‘bill’ for a fee of 0.99p is an attempt to gather banking information.

It follows other problems for WhatsApp customers - last year some users were being tricked into downloading a fake 'gold' version of WhatsApp which infected Android devices with malware.

Users are advised that if they receive one of these emails or text messages, not to click on any links. Instead, they should delete it and report it to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud.

Anyone who does click on one of the links, should run antivirus software to ensure your device has not been infected with malware.